Review: Amity by Micol Ostow

Thank you to Egmont USA and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  Unfortunately, while it had some definitely scary parts to it, very horror movie like,  I wasn't necessarily as thrilled with it as I had hoped to be.  You see, I recently looked into the whole Amityville Horror stories, more about this after my summary. 

This story takes place in two different time periods, with two different families.  It starts out even with a letter from the oldest son of the first family, one he's writing to his twin sister.  His name is Connor, and his sister's name is Julianna, or as her father calls her, Annie, but she prefers to be called Jules.  Their father is abusive, at least he is to their mother, as well as their younger brother Abel.  Connor seems to take after his father with the anger issues.  And it is possible that is what saves him and his twin sister from their father.  They have moved to Amity because of issues his father has had with money it seems.  Moving out there is not what the twins really want to do, but it is better not to complain in front of their father.  Because complaining will lead to someone getting hit, their mother or their younger brother.  But moving there, something changes about Connor.  The house seems to be calling to his "bad" side.  Even causing him to get mad at his twin, something he's never really felt about her. 

The 2nd family moves in 10 years later.  There are two kids in this family, a brother and his younger sister.  Luke and Gwen's family have moved there for some family reasons as well.  It seems Gwen has had mental problems, that have caused her to even be in an institution for a while.  And the family felt it would be better for her to have a new start.  Gwen is saying and trying to act like she is better.  But she still sees and feels things like before.  Her Aunt Ro is the only one who really understands her, but her parents don't really appreciate what her aunt seems to condone.  Gwen feels the house is talking to her.  But it's not just her.  Her older brother Luke seems to be affected as well.  He gets really kind of spaced out, and abrupt.  Very similar to Connor, ten years before.  And things seem to be happening all over again.  Gwen sees a ghost, of a girl named Annie, who seems to want to help her. 

We go back and forth in time, the viewpoints of Connor and Gwen are how we get the story.  There are some great scenes that I could totally see in a horror movie, and so in that way it is a very scary book.  And if you don't know a lot about the actual Amityville Horror reality and background, and this sounds good to you, you can probably stop with my review right here, and go enjoy a good scary book.  Otherwise, if you want to read what my problems with the book/story are, you can go on.  But don't let it keep you from reading, like I said, it is a good scary story.

When I mentioned in the first paragraph about how I'd recently looked into the whole background of the real place called Amity, it was mainly because of Lorraine Warren, and her involvement in the original "haunting." I had read the original Amityville Horror book years ago before I looked into this, as well as watching the movie.  But now I know that many people say it was all a hoax because of those involved who have come back and said they lied.  Now it's not that issue that bothers me, it is the things that have been proven to not be true.  Such as the land being a Native American burial ground.  Or that a famous man, thought to possibly be a witch during the Salem Witch Trials lived there.  And the other thing, that it was a insane asylum at one time.  All these things were used in the story as possibilities of what the reasons were for all the hauntings or mysterious events that happened there.  I'm not saying that using one of them would have been that bad or bothered me too much. Just that the author pulled in all three misleading ideas, seemed a bit of a cop-out to me.  But as I said, if you didn't know all those things, then you would enjoy it because those things are very eerie and make for a good back story.  Sorry, I guess I may have just ruined that for some people.

Review: Conversion by Katherine Howe

First, thanks to Edelweiss and Putnam Juvenile for allowing me to read an e-galley of this title.  I have read the adult novel by this same author, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, and it was also very interesting.  I don't think I have that review on this blog that I can link back to unfortunately though.  When I heard the way they were promoting this, Prep meets The Crucible, I must say I was very intrigued and so requested it.

Now, I don't know if that description is actually right on the money.  Yes, we have a prep school, all girls.  And yes, it is talking about the exact story of The Crucible.  But it was still a pretty good story the way it was.  We had flashbacks from the time of the Salem witch trials.  And we also had up to date parts of the story of a group of girls who began developing little tics and other types of illnesses seemingly for no reason, and with no causes.  The main character, at least in the modern part of the story, is named Colleen.  She is actually reading The Crucible, something that the students should have already read, but now she is reading it for extra credit because she really wants to be the valedictorian for her class.  She finds many similarities between the girls from back during the witch trials and what is happening to the girls in her class.  She even discovers some things that didn't even occur to me until they were pointed out in the book.

Some things that disappointed me were I would have liked more information about the modern day girls.  As well as more information from other viewpoints of the girls back in the original witch trials in the book.

Another reason I had been really intrigued to read this is because I remember when the girls were coming on the news and claiming all these weird tics and things happening to them.  I don't remember hearing much about it since.  I'm assuming that maybe the true story ended up with the same kind of diagnosis as the book did.  I'll have to do some research into that myself some time.  Definitely a good book for students to read who are interested in the Salem Witch Trials.  Could definitely be a good read after or with The Crucible.  I will be putting this on my list to order for the high school library where I work.

On a personal note, my recovery from my surgery last week seems to be going pretty well.  Unfortunately I've not read as much as I'd like so far, because a lot of times I'm still kind of tired and go to sleep instead of reading.  But I'm getting better slowly, so reading and blogging will get back on track!!

Spellbinding by Maya Gold

Again, thanks to Scholastic and Netgalley for letting me read this egalley in the fall of 2012.  I have to say I really liked this one!  I'm not always sure about books that are about witches.  Sometimes it is too hokey or I just can't get into the story.  But this book was really good!  The main character is Abby, who is a bit of a loner in her town.  Plus, her mother passed away, and she has felt as if her father has not really ever connected with her since then.  She has a younger brother that her father seems to be closer to.  She has one really good friend, who is a senior, and really smart, helps Abby with her classes.  For one assignment Abby is supposed to do some research into her family background.  And she finds something interesting, that her mother's side is descended from the Salem witches, or at least from the people who were accused of being witches.
Abby has been having some horrible nightmares recently as well.  They seem to be about the Salem witch trials in fact.  And she's never been able to swim, she is just sure that she will sink, and not float.  This even extends into a fear of going across bridges.  Until one day she is so excited about passing her driver's test that she convinces her friend to go with her to Salem.  As they drive in it is like a parking place clears just for them.  A hot guy is there sweeping the street.  Abby feels a sudden strange attraction or connection to him, his name is Rem.  And at one point she thinks that she hears him speak to her inside her mind.  She also sees a sign in a little New Age-y shop for help wanted, and for some reason is drawn in to apply. Now that she has her license, she needs a job to start saving for college.  And she basically gets offered the job, but now she must get a car.  And it seems things just keep falling into place.  When she took her driver's test, it's like the cones moved to where she needed them.  The car shows up as an opportunity from a cousin at a family reunion.  When she visits the Salem library to get some more information about her ancestry, she also finds a little book that seems to be a spellbook, but doesn't have the stuff to make it part of the library's collection.  So she takes it home, and tries it, and finds, that maybe she has powers.
But Rem isn't the only boy she thinks about, which is kind of good, because he's all hot and cold.  There is Travis, a boy she grew up with, who is very popular, THE popular boy, dating the most popular and bitchy girl at school.  But he's one of those nice guys who is nice to everyone, and it does seem like he still likes Abby.  So she decides to see if she can perform a spell to make him interested in her.  But there is a dark side to this magic.  And Abby soon learns that there may be a reason why she is all of a sudden feeling this draw to magic.  And it may not be a good reason.
I really liked the story!  While Abby didn't want to really hurt anyone, even as badly as she was treated by some of the girls at her school, she tried to not stray to that bad side.  The bad things seemed to happen when she wasn't really thinking about them, to someone who might be making her family a bit of a mess.  A unique take on the witch genre.  I like how it went.  I liked Rem, even though for a part of it I hated him, and felt for Abby.  I thought it might go a bit Carrie-esque at the prom, and there was a big deal at that event, but how it turns out in the end?  I loved the twist!  Great story!  Don't know if it was left open for a sequel at all, but I'd love to go back into this world and see what happens next.